What Happens After
by Faulty Cameras
Summary: Sequel to The Last Goodbye. Seth has to learn to adjust to his life without Summer and has to experince the ups and downs of parenting alone.
1. Never Forget

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of The OC.

A/N-I finally got around to writing the sequel to The Last Goodbye, as you can see. So the thing about this story is that it's going to be a bunch of oneshots about Seth's life raising his kids and such. I couldn't come up with an idea for a whole story but I had a bunch of little ideas so I think that this will work out a lot better. Thanks to Meg for proofreading this for me!

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Never Forget

Seth looked around at his handy work. He had to admit that he was pretty pleased with what he had done to the house.

There were streamers hung around the house and he had blown up balloons and just thrown them all over the place. It was James's tenth birthday and Seth had wanted it to be as special as possible.

It had been five months since Summer's death and they were all adjusting. It was a slow process but Seth was getting better at being a mother and a father to his kids. They were adjusting to it too, which was good.

Seth looked at his five month old daughter. "What do you think Grace? Do you think your brother will like it?"

"Daddy, she can't say anything back," Cooper spoke up from the table, where he was coloring pictures to hang for his brother.

"I know Coop. I just like to ask her opinion. She is a girl and girls are much better at decorating things. She might give a cry of joy if she likes it or something."

Cooper just looked at his dad, his nose wrinkled in slight disgust. He was having a harder time adjusting to Grace than anything else. He loved his sister-at least Seth thought he did-but with the loss of his mother and gaining a sister was a lot for him to take in. James didn't have to adjust to Grace much, already going through everything with Cooper.

They were getting by though. Even though they had to make some major changes in their lives to make everything work.

The first change that Seth had made was Grace's name. He had named her Summer Grace Cohen, after her mother, which everyone loved and thought was a good idea. He did too but it was the thought of calling her Summer, of there being another Summer in his life because the other was gone. After a month of calling her Summer and his heart aching every time he said it, then another month of referring to her as 'the baby', he started calling her Grace. He could tell that everyone agreed with him, mostly from the huge sigh of relief that was given when he made this announcement.

They had also had to fix the fact that Seth was now the only one taking them places. He was learning that it was next to impossible to be in two places at once, like he needed to be a lot of the times.

One day the previous week had been one of those days. He had a day full of meetings at work but he had scheduled them so that he would be finished by 3 so he could pick up Cooper from school, then swing by Ryan and Taylor's, where Grace would be with Taylor and her son Micah. Of course this didn't happen, as his final meeting of the day ran late by an hour. When he finally got to Cooper's school, he was an hour and a half late. After the initial panic of not seeing Cooper anywhere, then finding him in the principal's office, crying. He had been so angry with Seth, which was mostly noticeable when he yelled at him "Mommy would have never been late". That had stung Seth a lot and he was making sure from now on that he would never be late.

The door in the kitchen opened up and Seth turned to see who it was. He smiled when he saw his mom, dad, and sister Sophie walk inside the house.

"Grandma! Grandpa!" Cooper ran to his grandparents excitedly. They hadn't seen one another in several months. They had made a point to come for James's birthday though.

Seth wanted this day to be special. James had been so excited for his tenth birthday since the day after he had turned nine. With Summer's death, it had put a slight damper on everything, so Seth wanted to make sure James knew that the day was still going to be special. He had arranged for Sandy, Kirsten, and Sophie to come for the weekend and Taylor, Ryan, and Micah were going to come over for the night. When James got home from school, he was going to see his family there, along with cake and presents.

"Hey Coop," Sandy scooped his grandson off the ground.

"Where's Grace?" Kirsten asked, excited to see her only granddaughter.

Seth didn't have time to reply as she saw Grace and went immediately over to her and picked her up, cradling her in her arms.

"Hi Mom, Dad. I'm great thanks for asking," Seth said.

"Hey Seth," Sophie came over to him. "You should realize by now, they care more about those who are younger and cuter than you."

"Thanks Soph," Seth rolled his eyes. "You really know how to make your big brother feel great."

Sophie smiled at him. "Anytime. So where's James?"

"He's at school still. He had a comic book club meeting after school today."

"Well, he really is your kid."

"I am going to pretend that I wasn't insulted by that," Seth said.

"Seth, she is getting to be so beautiful," Kirsten said.

"Well, I don't think that I can take any of the credit for that one."

Everyone in the room knew what he meant when he said that. She already resembled her mother in more ways than just her name. He tried to forget about this sometimes, though it was next to impossible for him to do so.

The door opened again, this time Ryan and Taylor coming inside, Micah in Taylor's arms. More greetings were exchanged between the group and they soon all settled down in the house. Seth had to admit, he was excited for the carpool to drop James off. He knew that he was going to be so excited his family was here.

Everyone settled throughout the house, Seth taking Grace back from his mother, much to her disappointment. He took a seat on the couch, holding Grace in his arms, while waiting impatiently for James to come home.

"So Seth," Sandy came and sat down on the couch next to Seth, "how is everything going with you? Are you doing all right?"

"Yea, I guess," Seth shrugged. "I would be lying if I said that everything was a total and complete breeze. It's the farthest thing from it actually. Especially taking care of Grace along with James and Cooper. Ryan and Taylor are helpful though." He paused. "It hasn't been long. The boys are still adjusting to this sudden change in their lives. Maybe once it's been longer maybe it will get better."

Sandy nodded his head. "You do know that your mother and I are willing to come here and help whenever you need it, right?"

"Yea, Mom tells me every time I talk to her on the phone. It's fine though."

"You should come and visit us. Your mom loves those kids so much, she wants to see them more. Your sister too. She gets annoyed with just having us 'old people' at home with her."

"I'll try Dad," Seth said. "And I really don't blame Sophie for saying that."

Before Sandy could respond, the front door opened. Seth looked at it excitedly as James entered into the house.

He looked up at everyone, though there wasn't a look of excitement or happiness on his face, more one of sadness. He looked back down at his feet before mumbling a quick hello.

"Happy birthday James," Kirsten wrapped her arms around her eldest grandson.

"Thanks Grandma," he muttered.

Everyone wished him a happy birthday and he gave them all pretty unenthusiastic responses. Seth frowned at his son. He had thought that he would be happy about this surprise. He didn't look too pleased at all.

"How was your comic book club today?" Seth asked, passing Grace back to his mom, much to her delight, so that he could give his full attention to James.

James shrugged. "It was fine. They gave me this for my birthday." He held out a comic book that he was holding in his hands.

"How awesome is that buddy? You got a brand new comic book for your collection."

James just shrugged again, taking his backpack off and placing it in the closet. He looked at his family, who were really expecting some sort of reaction from him. He didn't give them anything.

"I made your favorite dinner James. Spaghetti with meatballs. And I even got the bread from that place that you love," Seth said.

"That's great," James replied.

"Well, let's go eat now then."

"James, we got you an ice cream cake. We know how much you love them," Taylor piped up.

"Thanks Aunt Taylor."

James started walking into the kitchen, them all slowly following him. Everyone could sense that something was wrong with him, but they didn't know why.

* * *

For the rest of the evening, James acted the same way. He opened the presents from his family, ate the cake Taylor bought but he just wasn't into it. He was very distant from his family members.

Finally, Ryan, Taylor, and Micah had left to go their house and Sophie, Kirsten, and Sandy had gone to their hotel, with promise to take the family out to breakfast. Seth put Cooper and Grace to bed then went to talk to James, who he knew would still be wide awake.

Sure enough, James was lying in bed, reading his new comic book. His presents from his family were sitting on the ground next to his bed, not completely discarded, but still not seeming as if he wanted them.

"Hey buddy, what's up?" Seth questioned, taking a seat on the bed.

"Nothing," James replied, not looking up from his comic book.

"Do you like the new comic that you got from your friends?"

"It's all right."

"That's good."

Silence fell between the two, which was unusual. Seth couldn't handle this. He thought he had a good three years before he had to deal with a moody teenager. This was three years too soon.

"James what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong Dad. I'm fine."

"And Spiderman is real. Come on James, talk to me."

James didn't reply to him but he did place his comic book down and made eye contact with his father. He averted his eyes after several seconds and started to mumble something.

"I can't understand you James," Seth said quietly, trying to not badger his son into talking.

"I didn't want any of this stuff for my birthday."

Seth looked at the presents confused. "But…we got all that you asked for. I even wrote down everything that you told me to get."

James shook his head. "But I was just telling you that I wanted those things. I didn't want any of it. Not the cake, not the presents, not Grandma and Grandpa comin' over."

Seth was still really confused and felt as if he was missing something major in this conversation. "What did you want then James?"

"I wanted Mom to come back," he replied, his voice barely above a whisper but still audible enough for Seth to hear. "But I know she can't. I just wanted her here for my birthday."

Seth felt like a huge idiot at that moment. He had tried so much to make this day great for his son, tried to make it great for everyone. He didn't think about how Summer not being there would affect everything.

Well, he did, he just didn't like the think about it. Summer was constantly in the back of his mind, if not the most prominent thing that he thought of. Sometimes, when certain things came up, he tried to not think of how things would be with her there.

"James, I'm sorry."

James shook his head. "Dad, there's nothing that can change it. I just wanted her here."

"Me too buddy."

"She would have made it awesome." James paused. "Not that you didn't do a great job."

"I know what you mean. She would have thrown you a great party and made you a cake that was perfect and the perfect dinner. She would have gotten you everything you wanted, things that you didn't even want."

"Dad," James said after a few minutes of quiet, "I miss Mom a lot."

"Me too James."

"Do you think Cooper misses her?"

"Yea. I don't think he likes my cooking very much," Seth smiled to himself. Cooper had made a comment when they were eating the spaghetti about how the noodles were too 'mushy' and the sauce wasn't 'tasty enough'. Seth had to admit his cooking was kind of crap a lot of the time, but he tried though he wasn't up to Cooper's standards just yet.

"Do you think Grace will miss her? When she's older?"

"I think we'll all miss her."

"Will we ever stop missing her?"

Seth sighed. "Honestly? I don't think so. Maybe we won't miss her as much but we'll still miss her."

"Will I ever forget her?" James asked, a hint of fear in his voice.

Seth sat, thinking back to some of Summer's final words to him. She didn't want them to forget her. He was going to make that his lifelong goal, to always make sure that she was remembered. "I won't let you forget her James. If you even get remotely close to doing so, I will pick up a picture and show it to you and then tell you stories about her to make sure you never forget."

James smiled at this thought. He knew that his father would do just this, that he would never let them forget her. "Dad?" he questioned as he placed his comic book down, leaning down against his pillows.

"Mhmm?" Seth had gotten momentarily lost in thought, James's voice had brought him back.

James yawned widely before he asked his question. "Can you tell me a story about Mom?"

"Of course," Seth agreed. He paused before launching into stories of Summer.

* * *

Seth laid down on his bed, exhausted. After telling James (and Cooper who had come in the room after he couldn't sleep) many stories about Summer and him, he had thought he would have gotten to go to bed. No such luck, as Grace started to cry so he had to go take care of her. Now he was finally able to get to sleep.

He liked these moments of the day, they were sometimes his favorite. He loved the time he spent with his children but he liked having the time to reflect on the day. He would think about everything that had happened, especially about the decisions that he had made concerning his kids. They were the most important things in his life now.

Sometimes at night he thought about that horrible day and he wondered about how different it could have gone. He often forgot but was later reminded that James had been in the car and that he could have died that day also. He knew that he was lucky that he had survived and had managed to escape with only the broken arm and few scratches that he had. He was thankful for that everyday.

He had lost Summer that day but he had gotten Grace. His beautiful daughter. He could have lost her too. Once again he knew that he was lucky that she was alive, as she had been clinging to life the first few days of her life, though she had greatly improved. He liked to think of her as his little miracle.

He slid his hand underneath his pillow, grabbing hold of a piece of fabric. It was an old t-shirt of Summer's, one that she had worn often and that she had loved. He loved the way it looked on her. He had it under his pillow for months now and he didn't intend to remove it anytime soon. It was a comfort to him, especially when he was having a difficult day. It was something that no one knew about but that he would always do.

Just as he had told James, he was never going to let anyone-including himself-forget her.


	2. Always Love

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of The OC.

A/N-Sorry this took me forever and a day to update. My other stories and school work kind of pushed this one to the back burner. Hopefully people still like it though. Oh yea, there's a flashback in here (as I seem to really enjoy those), that part is in italics. Enough rambling, thanks to everyone who reviewed, I really appreciate it, and thanks to Meg for editing.

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Always Love

Seth rolled over onto his stomach, looking at the clock next to his bed. He sighed. He didn't want this day to come.

As of today, Summer had been dead for a year.

His eyes rested on the empty spot next to him. He had to tear his eyes away quickly because despite the fact that he had been looking at it for a year, it didn't hurt any less than the first day.

Today everything hurt even more because it was not only the anniversary of her death but it was Grace's first birthday.

He wished she had lived to see Grace grow up. For a one year old, she had a lot of spunk and reminded him so much of Summer already. She would have loved having her own 'mini-me'.

He sighed as he decided to get out of bed. Not that he really had any reason to get out of bed. Taylor and Ryan had taken James, Cooper, and Grace for the night. It wasn't really Seth's idea, he actually would have rather had them home. He had a difficult time doing anything the previous night without his kids to distract him. He liked his little distractions. Stupid Taylor thinking that he would rather be alone.

He rolled out of bed and walked the bathroom, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He flipped on the light in the room and looked in the mirror. He jumped a foot when he did, swearing that he saw Summer there. He blinked several times before looking again. Her image was not there, but his heart hadn't stopped the pounding that it had started. He turned the light back off and went into his room.

His eye caught the bed again. The image of her was brought up once again and he couldn't shake it. He wondered how he was going to get through the day.

* * *

After three hours of seeing her everywhere, he felt like he was going insane. Everywhere he looked, there she was.

It wasn't like he didn't want to remember her. That was the last thing he wanted to do on the anniversary of her death. He just didn't want to think of that particular day again. He tried to avoid all thoughts of it. The last thing that he wanted to do was slip into the person he was over those few days. He didn't want to once again be the guy who neglected his children, who felt like he couldn't see the good in life.

He sighed, knowing that this was going to be something that he had to do. As much as he wanted not to, he had to think of that day.

* * *

_Seth stretched, yawning loudly as he got out of bed. He was nearly crushed by his sons chasing one another down the hallway when he walked out of his room. He shook his head at the fight the two were having over some toy. He continued walking downstairs where Summer was standing at the stove, making breakfast for everyone. _

"_Morning Summer," he greeted her with a quick kiss. He then gave her round stomach a kiss too. "Morning baby."_

_Summer just smiled at Seth. He went and took a seat at the table, picking up the newspaper. Summer sat down with him, stealing the Arts and Leisure section from him, despite the fact that he had just started to read a very interesting article in it. It was their morning routine, as embarrassed as they both were to have a morning routine sometimes. Really though, only when someone stopped by early in the morning (like Ryan did often when Taylor was pregnant to escape her occasional wrath) that they even noticed that they had a morning routine to be embarrassed about. _

_They sat in comfortable silence, Seth settling for the Sports section, despite the fact that he didn't get half of the stuff that was stated. All of the other news was either depressing or boring so he settled for confusion. _

_The phone started ringing and before Seth could jump to pick it up for Summer like he usually would-he liked doing little things for her as frustrated as she became with him-she got it. Before really starting the conversation, she looked at Seth._

"_Could you go and get the boys? Breakfast is almost ready," she whispered, then turned her attention back to the phone._

_Seth put down the paper and headed back upstairs. He smiled to himself, thinking of how incredibly lucky he was to have his family. Summer was wonderful and James and Cooper were the best two kids he could have asked for. He couldn't wait for their third child to be born. Both he and Summer were hoping for a girl, as that would just complete their family. _

_He went into James's room where he could hear them continuing their argument from earlier. When he entered the room he noticed right away that Cooper was crying-something the five year old tried very hard to not do now that he was a 'big kid' in kindergarten. _

"_What's wrong Coop?" Seth asked, immediately going to his youngest son._

"_James-he-he said that you and Mommy." The sobs overtook the little boy, shaking his whole body, making him unable to speak._

_Seth turned his gaze to look at James, who was looking at the floor, an attempt at innocence on his face. _

"_James, what did you tell your brother?"_

"_Nothing," James said, trying to keep the air of innocence about him. He wasn't succeeding very well. _

"_H-he told me that y-you and Mommy w-won't l-love me anymore!" Cooper wailed, finally able to get the words out of his mouth._

"_You told him what James?" Seth asked, taking Cooper into his lap, fixing a gaze on James._

_James just shrugged. "I just told him that when the new baby came that you and Mom wouldn't have as much time for him and that you wouldn't love him as much."_

_Seth sighed. The things that James came up with to torment his brother were never-ending, especially things involving the new baby. Just last week he had told Cooper that they were going to get rid of him when the baby was born, as that was what parents did whenever a new baby was born. He basically told him that he was getting exchanged for a new one. That did not sit well with Cooper at all._

"_Cooper, it's not true. Your Mom and I will love you just as much as we always have."_

"_A-and you're not g-gonna make me w-work?" Cooper sniffled a little._

_Seth gave his elder son another glare, once again just receiving a little shrug. "Of course not. If we would make anyone work it would be James. After all he is the oldest one."_

_This brought a smile to Cooper's face and a frown to James's. Seth just shook his head, then lifted Cooper off of his lap._

"_Okay, I was sent up here to get you guys for breakfast."_

_Before he had even completed the sentence, they had darted out of the room. Obviously all of their arguing had made them work up an appetite. He followed them to the kitchen, where Summer was no longer on the phone and had all their places set, plates stacked with food on the table._

"_Who was on the phone?" Seth questioned as he sat down._

"_Taylor. She's having a mini-crisis. Apparently Micah has been crying all night and she hasn't gotten any sleep. She wants us to come over for a little while so she can try to get some sleep."_

"_How about just you and James go? I think that Cooper and James need a little time away from each other."_

"_What did you tell Coop now James?" Summer asked._

"_How come I am immediately accused?" James asked._

"_Because he is five and you have been teasing him mercilessly since he was born," Seth supplied. _

"_I think that's a good idea. James we have to go and get you new sneakers anyways," Summer said._

"_But Mooomm."_

"_Not buts. You need them, those ones are falling apart."_

"_I get to spend the day with Daddy?" Cooper asked, his eyes lighting up._

"_Yes you do."_

"_Can we play video games?" he questioned, practically bouncing up and down in his seat from the excitement. "Like the ninja one?"_

"_Sure we can play the nin-," he looked at Summer who was shaking her head. Right. He forgot that the whole violence in video games was a bad thing. "No. Sorry Coop. We can play the racecar one though."_

_Cooper's face fell, until he caught his father's eye. Seth winked at him, letting him know that they would play the ninja game. He perked up slightly after that. _

_The rest of breakfast was spent like a normal Cohen breakfast-lots of confusing chatter that didn't make much sense at all. Finally, when they were finished, Summer and James got ready to leave. _

"_Bye Cohen," Summer said. "See you later. Movie night's tonight, don't forget to get-"_

"_Little Women, I know, I know. I love you." He gave her a long kiss, finally broken by the chorus of 'ews' coming from their sons. _

_Summer smiled at him. "I love you too." She gave him one more quick peck on the cheek. "Come on James, let's go."_

_Seth watched them leave, a smile on his face. He really did have an amazing family._

* * *

Seth thought back to that day, how less than half a day later he had gotten news of the car accident.

He wiped the tears that had come from his eyes. He missed her so damn much, it hurt sometimes. There were some days when he would wake up and see no sleeping form next to him and he just didn't think he could go on. Even seeing Grace's smiling face that looked like Summer's own or looking at James and Cooper and seeing some aspect of her there. Those were the worst days. It was like she was there in ways but not how he wanted her to be.

There was another thing that he wanted to do. Suddenly, he was glad that Taylor and Ryan had taken the kids for the day. This was something he wanted to do uninterrupted.

He went into his bedroom and bent down under the bed, pulling out a box. He had shoved this box underneath the bed immediately after her death, not opening it since. It was filled with pictures, some of her clothing, and some other small reminders of her. It wasn't everything of her-there were various other spots with things of hers.

He slowly opened the lid. He was greeted by her face-bright and shining, a large smile on it. He felt a small pang in his heart-this was the first time he had really looked at her picture. He had taken most of them down from the house, the only ones really left out were the ones in James and Cooper's rooms. Even then, he somehow managed to ignore the pictures, never glancing at them.

Now though, he realized how stupid this was of him. Sure, he had a perfect mental image of her in his mind-he would never be able to forget her. He just needed to see her face, to see it in a time that she was happy. More often than not, the image he had of her was the one where she was in the hospital.

He sifted through the box. There were various pictures that he had forgotten had even existed. Some were even from their days together in high school-he was certain that had been Summer's doing of saving them, he would have never remembered to save them. There were ones of them with James and Cooper, ones of them from vacations they had taken, and ones that were just pointless. He loved every last one. Each and every one had a story behind it, of something silly they had done together or something Summer had done.

He found some more things of hers, not just pictures. The necklace that had broken the morning of her accident, the shampoo bottle that was still half filled. He had other random things, all reminders of her.

He didn't know how long he looked through the box, but he knew it was a while. He studied every single item inside thoroughly, thinking of her. It was hard but it was good for him at the same time. He needed this.

He slowly started to place the lid back on the box, then hesitated. He picked up a framed picture, one that had been on their bedside table for all the years they had been together. It was of them on their wedding day. Summer had looked more beautiful than he had ever seen her before. It had always been his favorite picture of her. They both looked truly happy.

He placed the picture slowly on the same spot it had been all the years before. It looked like it belonged there more than any replacement item he had tried to use to fill the spot.

Tears fell down his cheeks as he rubbed his thumb over the picture. He stared at it for a few more minutes before completing his task of putting 'The Summer Box' away.

He stood up, wiping his eyes. It was almost time to go to get James, Cooper, and Grace. He had to stop thinking of the memories and go on with his life. Next year on this same exact date he would let himself think of her like this.

Before he headed out of the door, he looked at the picture once more. He was glad to have put it there. Her smile made him smile.

"I love you Summer," he whispered.

They were words that he had not spoken in a year. He had missed saying those words. He was still in love with her. He knew he always would be. No matter if she was dead or alive, no one could take her place in his heart.


	3. Martian Child

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of The OC. I also kind of took this idea for this chapter from the movie _Martian Child_, which I also don't own.

A/N-So yea. This chapter idea came to me a while ago, when watching the movie _Martian Child_. It's kind of the same thing, so if you've seen the movie before, you'll probably recognize some parts of the movie being used here. Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter and thanks to Meg for editing!

* * *

_Martian Child_

Seth walked through the currently silent house, thankful for a few minutes to himself. He liked his morning quiet time before the kids woke up. Having to take care of the three kids sometimes had him begging for the silence.

It had been a year and a half since Summer's death and he finally thought that things were starting to get back to normal. James had just turned 11 and was finally getting involved in more than the comic book club. Grace was a bouncy, cheerful baby and loved all the attention that she received.

Cooper seemed to be the only complicated one in the family. Seth understood this, considering how close he had been with his mother when she had been alive. He had tried to make everything as easy as possible for Cooper. It turned out to be a more difficult task than he would imagine.

Lately, the almost seven year old had decided that he wasn't a human from Earth; instead he was a Martian from Mars. At first Seth thought it was just a phase he was going through. He vaguely remembered his own parents telling embarrassing stories about him when he was younger going through a phase were he insisted he was Spiderman. Then, of course, James had pretended to be a dog named Spike when he was five and refused to listen to anyone unless they called him that.

Soon enough, he realized that Cooper thinking he was a Martian was not just a phase. He came up with the solution that he believed he really was when he found him putting a belt on himself with rocks hanging from it. Seth had questioned this and had found out that it was for gravitational purposes. He had to get over the shock of him being told about gravitational purposes from his first grader before he could really investigate anything further about the situation.

He had asked his parents about it wondering if it was normal. They repeated the story about his phase and then shared Sophie's princess phase to him. He just then realized he was going to have to brace himself for when Grace became old enough for a weird childhood phase.

He was about to go shower before the kids got up when he heard a scream coming from James's room. He sprinted down the hall to get to his room.

"What's wrong?!"

"HIM!" James exclaimed.

Seth just then noticed Cooper in the room, standing at the foot of James's bed. He was staring at his brother, not really doing anything else but that.

"Coop, what are you doing in here?"

"I'm studying."

Well. This was interesting. "What are you studying?"

"James."

"Why are you studying James?"

"I need to study human behavior."

Seth blinked. Obviously, Cooper was watching too much television or he was getting too smart for his own good.

"He wasn't just studying me Dad. He was poking me!"

"I'm sorry, James. I can't help what Cooper does." Seth shrugged. He really couldn't. "Coop, are you done studying James now? Can I leave you two alone to shower?"

Cooper nodded his head. "I need to go study Grace."

Seth shook his head, walking out of the room. He needed to remind himself that this was all just a phase.

* * *

Seth loved his day off. Every Wednesday he didn't have to work and it was his favorite day of the week, besides Sunday, his other day off. He got to spend his day with Grace instead of shipping her off to daycare and then spend the whole afternoon with all three of them.

Today though, was not his favorite day off. It had started with the weird studying for human behavior thing from Cooper. Then it had progressed with him refusing to go to school, spewing some crap about how it was his day to visit home or something. Seth was beginning to seriously wonder about therapy.

It had started to look up when Taylor had called and invited them all over for dinner. That had saved him from figuring out what he was going to make for dinner that night, allowing him more time with Grace and to work on some things for work.

He then got a call from Cooper's school. Apparently, he had to go in right away.

Seth, permanently always thinking the worse has happened, jumped to the conclusion that something horrible had happened to Cooper. He had rushed out of the house, almost forgetting about Grace, so that he could get to the school and see what was happening.

He ran into the school to the office. After calmly telling him that everything was all right, it was just a meeting with the principal, he had to wait for a few minutes. The secretaries took this time to fawn over Grace, who as per usual, loved the attention.

Finally, after what felt like forever to him, Seth was able to go into the office. He walked inside alone, the secretaries too in love with Grace to let her go just yet.

"Good afternoon Mr. Cohen." The principal, Mrs. Harmer, greeted Seth with a kind smile.

"Hello Mrs. Harmer. So what exactly was I called in about? They said it was nothing too serious…?"

"Well, it's mostly about Cooper's strange behavior as of late. Has he been acting like this at home also?"

"Like what at home?" Seth closed his eyes briefly, wondering what behavior he was exactly giving at school.

"He's been going around to teachers, asking them to contribute to his study as he leaves tonight for a visit home. There have also been a few incidents these past few weeks of him leaving the classroom and going to another, just to stare at the other children. We've sent a few notes home about this."

"Yea, unfortunately, my little Martian child hasn't shared any of these notes with me."

Mrs. Harmer frowned. "He thinks that he is a Martian?"

Seth nodded. "I think it's just one of those phases he's going through. My older son, James, used to think he was a dog named Spike."

Mrs. Harmer gave a slight smile before continuing on. "I just think that this is more than just a phase Mr. Cohen. I know that your family lost your wife a year and a half ago and that you are still dealing with this loss."

"We're getting better. All of us."

"I don't know if Cooper is though. I think that this Martian thing might be a way of him telling you this."

Seth looked at her. He hadn't ever really thought about it that way before. He thought that Cooper was getting better about her death, that it wasn't as affective as much. He was apparently wrong.

"I realize that having three kids alone is very difficult for you, especially when they are all so young and have had to deal with such a loss in their lives. I'm not saying that you don't divide your attention amongst the children equally, but I think that you might want to pay more attention to Cooper's actions. Perhaps spend some alone time with him at least once a week, without your other children. I think he might just be missing some one on one time with a parent. Was Cooper close with his mother?"

Seth sighed. "Yes. They were very close, which is why I think that he's been acting how he has. I didn't really ever think that he would do something like this because of her death."

"It's okay. We think that he will most likely get over this eventually, but you should really talk to him about it. We've called him out of his class to go home with you."

Seth nodded his head. "That sounds good. I'll be sure to talk to him."

"Thank you very much for coming in Mr. Cohen. Good luck."

Seth left the office to see Cooper standing staring at the one secretary who was playing with Grace. When he seemed to be certain she wasn't watching, he took something off of her desk. He was about to put it in his pocket when Seth came over, taking it out of his hand.

"Dad! I need that!" he protested.

"No you don't Coop. It isn't yours to take." He placed it back on the secretary's desk. "Apologize now."

"No. I need that for my studies!"

"Cooper please, just apologize."

He reached out his hand to take the object once again. Seth immediately took it out of his hands and placed it back on the desk. "Cooper Lucas Cohen, stop that right now."

"No." Cooper turned and started to run from the room. Luckily a teacher happened to see the struggle between father and son and grabbed a hold of Cooper.

"Thank you." Seth called to the man as he grabbed Grace before he once again unintentionally forgot her. "Come on Coop, we're going home."

Cooper refused to look at his father and Seth could tell that he was crying. He wanted to say something but he didn't know what to say. It was in these moments that he felt like he was a terrible father, that he didn't deserve his kids. He knew that Summer would have known to do in this type of situation. He just wished that he knew too.

* * *

Seth sighed, resting his head on Ryan and Taylor's kitchen table. It had been such a long day after he had picked Cooper up from school and it was still going.

He had tried to talk to Cooper, he really did. All that Cooper did was tell him that he had to get ready to go home.

So Seth finally gave up and let him pack his little backpack full of his studies. He wasn't about to argue with Cooper anymore about him being a Maritain for the day.

"Seth, we're ready to eat now. Do you want to get the kids?" Taylor questioned.

"Sure." He lifted his head off the table then moved from the chair. He walked into the living room, where Ryan, James, and Cooper had been playing some video games. He usually would have taken part in those, but he had decided to talk to Taylor about Cooper instead. Though now it seemed that Cooper was no longer playing with them, as only James and Ryan were sitting on the couch.

"Dinner's ready guys. Where'd Coop go?"

"He said something about going somewhere a while ago," James replied. "He just kind of never came back."

"We figured he went in the kitchen with you and Taylor."

"He's not in there." Seth felt his heart skip a beat at this thought.

"Well, he's probably somewhere else in the house then. Go and look upstairs." Ryan noted the panic on Seth's face and hoped that the panic was for nothing.

Seth darted up the stairs, checking all of the rooms. Cooper was nowhere to be found. He ran back down the stairs, pulling on his jacket as he did.

"Cooper's not anywhere downstairs is he?" he asked, just to double check.

Ryan shook his head. "We just looked. I don't know where he went."

Seth was out the door before Ryan could even complete his sentence. He didn't know where Cooper was going but he needed to find him before anything bad happened to him. He needed to before anything bad possibly happened to him.

He heard Ryan calling back to Taylor to stay with at the house and him coming running over to him.

"Listen Seth, I'm sorry. I didn't know…"

"It's fine. It's not your fault, you didn't know he was going to leave the house. Hell, I didn't even know he was going to leave the house. But we need to find him. He can't be very far can he?"

Ryan shook his head. "I think we should drive around the neighborhood. We're bound to find him eventually."

Seth nodded his head in agreement, already hoping into the car. Ryan followed him and started driving.

After nearly 20 minutes of driving around and no Cooper, Seth started to become even more nervous. He had to be nearby, he couldn't possibly be that fast of a walker. He had to be somewhere in the neighborhood.

After a few more minutes of driving, Seth spotted something on the side of the road. It looked like the backpack Cooper had been carrying earlier that night.

"Pull over."

Ryan barely had the car to the side of the road before Seth had jumped out of the car. He picked up the backpack, noting that it still had all of its contents inside. He looked around wildly, realizing that Cooper had to be somewhere nearby.

"Seth! Over here."

Seth looked to where Ryan was pointing to, a small lump on the ground. He could tell from afar that it was Cooper, lying on the grass. Seth ran over to him faster than he had ever ran before in his life.

"Cooper!"

He sat up, tear stained face looking directly at his father. "Daddy!"

Seth wrapped his arms around his son, never wanting to let him go. He hadn't felt that way since the day that he lost Summer. He was so afraid that he was about to lose another part of his family.

"Cooper, what were you doing out here?"

"I thought that they were coming for me."

"Who was coming for you?"

"They were going to bring me to Mommy. The people who made Mommy leave. They were supposed to take me there and bring her back with me."

Seth felt his heart breaking. He sat down on the cool ground. "Cooper…"

"I just wanted to see Mommy. I thought that she might have gone to Mars."

"And that she had become a Martian?"

Cooper shook his head vigorously. "Uh-huh."

"That explains all the studying of people and why you thought you were a Martian," Seth muttered.

"But they didn't come. Daddy why did they not come?" The tears started to spill from his eyes once again. "I wanted to see Mommy again."

Seth paused. He didn't know what to tell Cooper that wouldn't make him upset. "Coop, you can't see Mommy again."

"Why not?"

"Because she can't come back."

"But why? Does she not want to see me anymore?"

"No, she loves you more than anything Cooper. She does. She just can't come back. Martian or not, she can't come back. And you can't go and see her."

"I want to though."

"I know you do. I do too. You still have me and James and Grace though. We love you just as much as she did. And we want you to stay with us and not be with her. We don't want to be a Martian."

Cooper nodded his head. "I want to stay with you guys. Even Grace."

Seth laughed lightly. "Well that's saying something if you even want to stay with Grace."

"Can we go back to Uncle Ryan and Aunt Taylor's now?"

Seth nodded his head. "Of course we can. Go to Uncle Ryan."

Seth stood in the spot, watching Cooper run to his uncle. He looked up at all of the stars in the sky. He thought along his son's line of thinking for a minute, wondering if maybe Summer was a Martian or something.

He laughed at himself as he realized how ridiculous that sounded, even in his head. He smiled as he walked over to Cooper and Ryan. As much fun as it had been to have a Martian child, he was glad to have his son back.


End file.
